Barmouth

Apologies in advance for the long post.
I'm back from my camping trip to Barmouth, Wales. Due to signal difficulties I couldn't send out blogs with my phone, so as I explained in the blog post: A Picture Blog, I will do a recap of everything that has happened this week. I did manage to send one blog on the way while I was on the train, that blog was called On The Train.

On the Way (Tue)

Well the train journey on the way there was interesting, we had one change at Shrewsbury, if that's how you spell it, which didn't take long for us to swap, I played cards with those who were sat near me and enjoyed some nice food which I had prepared before I set off from home.

When we got There

The weather was fine, it wasn't raining but it wasn't sunny either, we got there in good time to put up the tent before the rain started, which was good because we managed to put it up in dry conditions, I don't think I would have liked to have put it up in the rain. It cost 16 pounds each for two nights, that 8 pound a night EACH! I was a bit shocked at that, its not a lot on your own but when 12 of you are going then that's a lot of money, they could have easily given us a price per tent or at least a family deal but no, they gave us a full price. Once the tent was prepared and ready to be slept in, we planned our food. We went to the shop and met Sue the shop keeper, she was a very nice woman and we went in there a lot for something to eat and a good chat, that shop was a life saver (literally, I will say more later). Sausages was the food of the week, me and two others put in to but sausages that took about 40 mins to cook, they were actually boiling in their own fat, they were nice tho, in the end.

That night

Everyone got drunk, I drank a lot, but for some reason I couldn't get drunk, I think it was because it takes me a while to get used to somewhere new, and as I worry about things too much, I just couldn't settle, I still had a good time tho, until I got in bed, was sick on and stormed away before I snapped too much, I didn't want to make a show and I did get pretty angry at the mess of the tent and my sleeping area. So yea, I walked around the camp site while everyone else went to bed, I waked too and from the toilet block in the rain, the wind was getting worse and worse... making my way back to the tent to check on it I noticed that half the tent was collapsing. Yep, one of the poles that keeps the tent up had snapped... it could have been for any reason, maybe it was too tight maybe it was too loose, I have no idea, but it snapped. That was a big worry for me, I just didn't think I could sleep in it at all, but after making a few more trips to the toilet block and a few more cups of water, I finally gave in and slept in a corner of the sleeping area all curled up in a ball.

In the morning (wed)

I got up early, so 2 hours of sleep, had a good old wash, then went for another walk before the shop opened, I needed some milk for my cereal. Then after eating my cereal I relaxed had some nice food from my cousin and sat on a rock for a bit. We then went to visit sue to see if she had anything to fix the pole with as gaffa tape wasn't working, luckily she had a spare pole for sale (5.99) so we bought it and went back and fitted it, I could finally relax. One of the girls suggested I got some sleep in one of their tents as my tent still smelt like sick and I wasn't feeling too good myself, I had been getting a cold the day before, but after not sleeping much it was begining to get on my chest and it was hard to breath, I had some paracetamol and fell asleep. I was woken by my saxophone teacher phoning me, she had good news she told me that I had passed my Grade 7 Saxophone, with a Merit!, I was extremely happy, she told me all the comments and she was happy too. Then I got up and went looking for everyone. It seemed everyone had gone for walks to the town to get some food supplies so I just waited around for them to return. When they got back they made dinner (sausages) and then went off to the beach!

At The Beach

It really was amazing, the sun was shining and the sea was on it way in but not too fast, plenty of time for us to have all the fun in the world. Some of the lads played football while the girls went to the sea to get their feet wet, we had two kites to fly. Me and some of the others drew pictures in the sand, dug holes and then played a game. The game was, we threw one large rock and then the winner was the one who hit that same rock with smaller pebble. "You know why this game is fun?... cos you don't run out of pebbles" That's what I said, because it was completely true! I had such an amazing time. I burned my face on the beach as the sun was really hot, but it really was worth it.

Back at camp

When we got back we set up the fire, two of the guys built rocks in a circle and put the disposable barbecues on the top (all four of them) and then we all sat around it, we started it up to cook the meal. Burgers, Sausage burgers, and stake... you guessed it Burgers. Well I think it was only fair, as sausages were yesterdays speciality, burgers deserved to have their own day. Once we had used up the barbecue food we used the fire base to start a real fire, using wood from around. We stopped that for a while and a few of us went to watch the sea, the tide had come in and it was against the sea wall, it really was an amazing sight. Then when it went fully dark we headed back to camp and watched the stars 'If you stop and concentrate, there are more stars than there actually seems.' It stated to get cold so we set the fire going again using some more wood and a cricket bat that was no longer needed as the day was over and we wouldn't have taken it home or used it the next day. When that fire died we all went inside the now fixed tend (the one I had brought as it was the biggest of the four and had somewhere for us to sit) and meditated while getting drunk. One of the guys told some jokes and one by one we all fell asleep. I slept well that night.

The final day (Thurs)

After an amazing day the day before, this day was a nice day to just get packed up and go. I had a shower then helped pack away the tent. Once we had done that we went to say bye to Sue in the shop and bought some last bits that we will need for the journey.. you know things like chocolate and crisps. Then we went and walked up to the cafe and waited for all 12 of us to turn up. We had to wait there for the rest while they packed their tents away. The cafe woman was nice, she made my a bacon sandwich (yep Thursday was bacon day) and a nice hot chocolate. After seeing all of our bags (they took over her cafe) she suggested that as our train wasn't till 5 and it was only 12 we should ask the train station if there was anywhere we can keep our stuff till the train arrived. When we got there they were a bit hesitant and said that there wasn't really anywhere we could keep the bags, then when she saw that there was a lot of us she suggested that we could put them in one of the bicycle lockers near the platform and they would be safe if we had a padlock. So everyone put there stuff in there and we bought a padlock, I kept my bag with me because I didn't really trust leaving it on it's own. We went around all the shops, and some of the guys bought some meditation stuff. I bought a wrist band and then we all went to the station and waited for the train, we waited from around 3 till 5. I went to the Co-Op to get some food for the journey home and then we got on the train. Once again the train was good, I had bought a crossword book to kill time and we also played cards again. I ate all my food and was completely stuffed by the time I had finished. We got back to the station and I got a lift of one of the guy's mum. I got home and watched Untraceable with the family. 

The Pictures (Click for larger view)

I hope you enjoyed today's update and the pictures that go with it. It took me ages to write everything so I don't expect anyone to read it all, Its good to have it there tho for the memories and the pictures too. Remember if you want the full size image just click on it and it should come up. Tomorrow night I might post a +Vert or a Doodle Doo, I've got a good one for both of those topics.

Have a good night.

Aaron, Big Update, Long post, Holiday, Laptop Style. x